Person:William Sparks (98)

William Sparks was born about 1783 in North Carolina or Virginia. He paid taxes on his personal property in Washington County, Virginia in 1806, and it was about this time that he married Rhoda Pennington. They apparently followed his father James Sparks, Sr. , to Ashe County, NC, for they appeared there on the 1810 census.

The family returned before long to Washington County, where he paid taxes from 1811 to 1824. He also appeared on the 1820 census of that county. They had six children (Ephraim, James, Joseph, Margaret, Rebecca, and Mary) in Virginia.

On March 28, 1816, William Sparks, now "of Lee County," paid $300 for 100 acres of land, located on the West Fork of Blackwater Creek side of Powells Mountain. The land was about seven miles southwest of the Lee County courthouse and was probably near the present-day village of Blackwater. He sold the property three years later for $230, although it was paid for in installments, and William retained title and paid taxes even after he moved to Tennessee.

William Sparks may have moved to this property, but, if so, he did not remain there very long. On November 11, 1819, he sold the tract to William Chumley, of Green County, Tennessee, for $230. Records indicated that Chumley did not finish paying for the land until 1841, and that Sparks retained title to the land and also paid the taxes, although most of the time he was a resident of Tennessee.

William was in White County, Tennessee by 1825 when he paid taxes that year. It was also there that he was listed on the 1830, 1840, and 1850 censuses, and it is where he bought land in 1843. He and Rhoda eventually had six more children (Phoebe, Jacob, Levi, William, Solomon, Sarah).

Putnam County, Tennessee, was formed in 1852 from parts of White, Smith, and DeKalb Counties, and the part of White County in which William Sparks lived became a part of the new county.

Rhoda and William Sparks' names were stitched on the Tree-of-Life quilt which was pictured and described in the December 1956 Issue of THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, Whole No. 16 , and inthe September 1982 issues of THE SPARKS QUARTERLY, Whole No . 119. According to the data preserved on the quilt, William died o n March 2,1869. Rhoda survived him by two years, dying on October 26, 1871. ^[5]

The family, named on the quilt: Eaf Sparks, James Sparks, Pecy Bumbalow, Rebeckey Randolf, William Sparks, Sol Sparks, William Sparks, Sean., Rhody Sparks, Poly Suthird, Feby Scarbrough, Joe Sparks, and Levi Sparks. (Jacob and Sarah are missing)

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Pugh, Donald. William Sparks of North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. (Sparks Quarterly, Sept. 1992).
2. ↑ Sparks Family Tree-of-Life Quilt. Pictured in Sparks Quarterly, December 1956 and September 1982.
3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Putnam, Tennessee, United States. 1860 U.S. Census Population Schedule.

   1860 Putnam, TN: William 77; Rhoda 71; William Sherly 18. (93-33) Close by: William 31; Rachel D. 28; Versaley 2. (Dry Valley, Dist 4, p. 33, 7/12/1860)

4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 White, Tennessee, United States. 1850 U.S. Census Population Schedule.

   1850 White, TN: William 67 NC; Rhoda 61 NC; William 22; Sally Ann 17. (1394-204)

5. ↑ The SPARKS QUARTERLY, March 1994, Whole No. 165, p 4270